Keep away from worldly lawyers. This is the rock on which many have wrecked
their barque [sailing vessel]. . . . (5MR:445)

Those who have placed their dependence on lawyers, on the counsels of
unconsecrated men, have been unfaithful stewards. (20MR:171)

We are
not to lean upon the policy of worldly lawyers. We must be humble men of
prayer, not acting like those who are blinded by Satan's agencies. (18MR:36)

God's cause is now in need of the influence that protests against evil,
and strives to counteract it--the influence that Christ has always demanded
of His people. Let there be no delay, for the message that I am bearing is
from God. While He has been calling upon His people to come out from the
world, and to be separate and distinct, not touching that which is unclean,
human agencies have been counterworking His work, by linking up with worldly
men, cultivating the spirit of commerce, and
depending on worldly lawyers
and worldly methods. The Lord is sorely displeased with these men who have
made themselves one with the world. (16MR:10)

How Christ is Crucified Afresh:

God will
call the world to account for the death of His
only-begotten Son, whom to all intents and purposes the
world has crucified afresh, and put to open shame in
the persecution of His people. (TM:39)

These men cast aside the counsel God has given, and
do the very things He has bidden them not to do [initiate lawsuits]. They
show that they have chosen the world as their judge, and
in heaven their names are registered as one with
unbelievers. Christ is crucified afresh, and put to open shame.
Let these men know that God does not hear their
prayers....Matters connected with the church are to be kept
within its own borders. If a Christian is abused, he is to
take it patiently; if defrauded, he is not to appeal to
courts of justice. Rather let him suffer loss and wrong.(3SM:299, 300)

The world
and unconverted church members are in sympathy. Some
when God reproves them for wanting their own way,
make the world their confidence, and bring church
matters before the world for decision. Then there is
collision and strife, and Christ is
crucified afresh, and
put to open shame. Those church members who appeal
to the courts of the world show that they have chosen the
world as their judge, and their names are registered in
heaven as one with unbelievers. How eagerly the world
seizes the statements of those who betray sacred trusts!
...To lean upon the arm of the law is a disgrace to
Christians; yet this evil has been brought in and
cherished among the Lord's chosen people. Worldly
principles have been stealthily introduced, until in
practice many of our workers are becoming like the
Laodiceans--half-hearted, because so much dependence
is placed on lawyers and legal documents and agreements.
Such a condition of things is abhorrent to God. (3SM:302, 303)

Through His servants, God gave the Jewish people a last opportunity
to repent. He manifested Himself through His witnesses in their arrest,
in their trial, and in their imprisonment. Yet their judges pronounced on
them the death sentence. They were men of whom the world was not
worthy, and by killing them the Jews
crucified afresh the Son of God.
So it will be again. The authorities will make laws to
restrict religious liberty. They will assume the right
that is God's alone. They will think
they can force the conscience, which God alone should control. Even
now they are making a beginning; this work they will continue to carry
forward till they
reach a boundary over which they cannot step. God
will interpose in behalf of His loyal, commandment-keeping people. (DA:630)

A Solemn Warning:

Let the principle once be established in the United
States that the church may employ or control the power of
the state; that religious observances may be enforced by
secular laws; in short, that the
authority of church and state
is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in
this country is assured. (GC:581)

...it is not the true church of God that makes war with
those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ. It is the people who make void the law, who place themselves on the
side of the dragon, and persecute those who vindicate God's precepts.
(ST 04-22-89; pr:07)

Those who have
an opportunity to hear the truth, and yet take no pains to hear or understand
it, thinking that if they do not hear, they will not be ACCOUNTABLE, will be
judged guilty before God the same as if they had heard and rejected. There
will be no excuse for those who choose to go in error when they might
understand what is truth. (RH 04-25-93; pr:10)

One Man Responsible for Another Man's Unfaithfulness:

"Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins;
keep thyself pure." (1 Tim. 5:22) ...Sin should be rebuked.
Whatever opposition and trial might come to the elder
of the church because of his faithfulness, he should not
swerve from true principles. Sins should not, because of
unsanctified preferences and sympathy, be lightly regarded
in one man which would be condemned in another. This
matter is one of great importance. If he trusts responsibilities
to one whose habits and practices he knows to be
wrong, he shows that his own principles are not sound,
that his motives are questionable. By this very act he
sanctions the errors and sins of the man he has
commended and appointed to the sacred office of caring for the
flock of God. Unless he is guarded by heavenly wisdom,
he will place himself in a position where he will feel it
necessary to sustain the man with whom he has united his
influence; and God will hold him RESPONSIBLE for his
brother's unfaithfulness in office, and for the harm which
will result to the church. He must keep himself pure by
refusing to mingle with any unholy influence. (PH028:17, 18)

Individual Members Responsible for State of the Church:

Each member of the church should feel under sacred
obligations to guard strictly the interests of the cause of God. The
individual members of the church are RESPONSIBLE for its
distracted, discouraged state, by which the most sacred truths
ever committed to man are dishonored. (5T:278)

Church Body Accountable for Negligence and Sin of Members:

God will hold the church at _____ RESPONSIBLE,
as a body, for the wrong course of its members. If a
selfish and unsympathizing spirit is allowed to exist in
any of its members toward the unfortunate,...He will hide His
face from His people until they do their duty and remove the wrong
from among them....the Lord holds the church
accountable for the sin of its members until they have
done all they can to remedy the existing evil. (WM:212, 213)

The church is in a great degree RESPONSIBLE for the sins of her members.
She gives countenance to evil if she fails to lift her voice against it.
(PK:651)

The church is
in a great degree RESPONSIBLE for the sins of her members. She gives
countenance to the evil, if she fails to lift her voice against it. The
influence from which she has most to fear is not that of open opposers,
infidels, and blasphemers, but of inconsistent professors of Christ. These
are the ones who keep back the blessing of the God of Israel.
(SW 05-10-04; pr:06)

The church as a whole is in a degree RESPONSIBLE
for the wrongs of its individual members because they
countenance the evil in not lifting up their voice against it. The
favor of God is not enjoyed for several reasons. His Spirit is
grieved by the pride, extravagance, dishonesty, and overreaching
which are indulged by some professing godliness. All
these things bring the frown of God upon His people. (4T:490, 491)

Those who have too little courage to reprove wrong,
or who through indolence or lack of interest make no
earnest effort to purify the family or the church of God,
are held accountable for the evil that may result from
their neglect of duty. We are just as RESPONSIBLE for evils
that we might have checked in others by exercise of
parental or pastoral authority, as if the acts had been
our own. (CG:235, 236)

Aaron failing to stand up boldly for the right, his yielding to the
strength of numbers, placed him with the majority. Aaron represents the cases
of a large number composing our churches at the present day. They pass over
sins existing in the church which grieve the spirit of God. They are lax
where order and principle are involved, because it is not pleasant to reprove
and correct wrongs. They are themselves carried along with the current, and
become RESPONSIBLE for a fearful neglect of faithfulness. (ST 05-27-80; pr:04)

...if the sins of the people are passed over by those in responsible positions,
His frown will be upon them, and the people of God, as a body, will be
held RESPONSIBLE for those sins. (3T:265)

Brethren and sisters in the faith, does the question arise
in your hearts, "Am I my brother's keeper?" If you
claim to be children of God, you are your brother's keeper.
The Lord holds the CHURCH RESPONSIBLE for the souls of those
whom they might be the means of saving. (ChS:13)

We repeat, God holds the CHURCH RESPONSIBLE for the sins of its
individual members. When coldness and spiritual declension exist, God's
people should put away their pride and self-confidence and self-exaltation,
and should come to the Lord in sorrow and humility, not charging him with
injustice, but seeking wisdom to understand the hidden sins which shut out
his presence. (ST 04-21-81; pr:24)

God's Displeasure at Sin Among His People:

God's displeasure is upon His people, and He will not manifest His power
in the midst of them while sins exist among them and are fostered by those
in RESPONSIBLE positions. (3T:270)

The sin of Eli was in passing lightly over the iniquity of
his sons, who were occupying sacred offices. The neglect of
the father to reprove and restrain his sons brought upon Israel
a fearful calamity. The sons of Eli were slain, Eli himself lost
his life, the ark of God was taken from Israel, and thirty
thousand of the people were slain. All this was because sin
was lightly regarded and allowed to remain among them.
What a lesson is this to men holding RESPONSIBLE positions in
the church of God! It adjures them faithfully to remove the
wrongs that dishonor the cause of truth. (4T:166)

The leaven of unbelief is working, and unless these
evils which bring the displeasure of God are corrected in its members, the
whole CHURCH stands ACCOUNTABLE for them. (RH 12-23-90; pr:10)

Cleanse the camp of this moral corruption, if it takes the
highest men in the highest positions. God will not be trifled
with. Fornication is in our ranks. I know it, for it has been
shown me to be strengthening and extending its pollutions.
There is much we will never know, but that which is
revealed makes the CHURCH RESPONSIBLE and guilty unless
they show a determined effort to eradicate the evil. Cleanse
the camp, for there is an accursed thing in it. (TSB:237)

We must as a people arouse and
cleanse the camp of Israel. Licentiousness, unlawful intimacy,
and unholy practices are coming in among us in a
large degree; and ministers who are handling sacred things
are guilty of sin in this respect. They are coveting their
neighbors' wives, and the seventh commandment is broken.
We are in danger of becoming a sister to
fallen Babylon, of
allowing our churches to become corrupted, and filled with
every foul spirit, a cage for every unclean and hateful bird;
and will we be clear unless we make decided movements to
cure the existing evil? (TSB:188)

Becoming Partakers of Others' Sin/Evil Deeds:

The wheat is not to sow itself among the tares; for although we may not
practice the works of some of the members of the secret orders, in joining
them we are registered in heaven as partakers of their evil deeds,
RESPONSIBLE for their works of evil, and bound up in bundles with them as
tares. Thank God, it is not too late for Christians to sever themselves from
all unholy connections, and come fully unto the side of Christ. (RH 01-10-93; pr:16)

"The people of God are not to vote [for men in political parties] to place
such men in office; for when they do this, they are PARTAKERS WITH THEM OF
THE SINS which they commit while in office." (GW:391)

The names of those who sin and refuse to repent should not be retained on
the CHURCH books, lest the saints be held ACCOUNTABLE for their evil deeds.
(5BC:1096)

What a lesson have we here for parents and guardians of
youth, and for those who minister in the service of God.
When existing evils are not met and checked, because men
have too little courage to reprove wrong, or because they have
too little interest or are too indolent to tax their own powers
in putting forth earnest efforts to purify the family or the
church of God, they are ACCOUNTABLE for the evil which may
result in consequence of neglect to do their duty. We are just
as ACCOUNTABLE for evils that we might have checked in others,
by reproof, by warning, by exercise of parental or pastoral
authority, as if we were guilty of the acts ourselves. (4T:516)

...if one neglects the duty Christ has enjoined, of trying to restore those
who are in error and sin, he becomes a partaker in the sin. For evils that
we might have checked, we are just as responsible as if we were guilty
of the acts ourselves. (DA:441)

If God abhors one sin above another, of
which His people are guilty, it is doing nothing in case of an
emergency. Indifference and neutrality in a religious crisis is
regarded of God as a grievous crime and equal to the very
worst type of hostility against God. (3T:281)

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